(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical field of stereoscopic playback.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Stereoscopic playback refers to a technique of realizing stereoscopic viewing with the use of a pair of videos as seen from different view points, one of which is for right view and the other for left view. While stereoscopic display can be realized by various methods, the basic principles are to present different display images to the left eye and the right eye of a viewer in a manner to exploit the parallax between the eyes to create an optical illusion of stereoscopic images.
In one exemplary method, stereoscopic display is realized with the use of a pair of shutter glasses. According to this method, video images presented on the display device for right eye and left eye are alternately updated at high speed. The shutter glasses are controlled to alternately block the view of the right eye and left eye of the viewer, in synchronism with the timing of updating the video images. In this way, it is achieved that each image presented for the left eye is perceived only by the left eye, where as each image presented for right eye is perceived only by the right eye.
Currently, the main applications of stereoscopic playback of video streams are found in the use for movie theaters, for example. In the future, however, it is expected that stereoscopic playback of video streams is increasingly enjoyed with the use of consumer playback devices.
Especially to be noted is that packaged media such as BD-ROM and the like includes, in addition to video images, background images, subtitles, and rendered images to be presented on separate planes. Thus, a display device can display composite video images created by overlaying a plurality of planes. By presenting the background images, subtitles, and rendered images in a manner to realize stereoscopic viewing, highly interactive stereoscopic playback is realized. In addition, the adopted method ensures that video images and subtitles are synchronized on a frame-by-frame basis with the video output signal of the playback device, so that clear dynamic images are played back without flickering.
Citation List
Patent Document
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-139957
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-102037